Mar Thoma Sleeha Church, Thulappally

The Syro-Malabar pilgrimage church of Mar Thoma Sleeha stands at Thulappally, on the eastern bank of the Pampa, surrounded by state forest and close to Sabarimala and Nilakkal. Tradition holds that St Thomas came to Nilakkal in AD 52 and founded a Christian community in what was then a trading town; many small churches grew up, and the chief of them, Thalappally, gave its name to Thulappally. Old Christian tombs can still be seen in the forest near the church.

Settlers began arriving from 1938, and a Catholic chapel dedicated to St George held its first Qurbana in 1955. A new building, blessed on 17 January 2007, carried the new dedication to St Thomas, and a parish hall followed in 2025. The parish runs a micro-hydel scheme supplying about 250 families, along with shops, clinics, temples, mosques and churches. The feast of St Thomas each July draws devotees from across Kerala.